Biometric readers fooled by fingers made of Play-Doh

Published 21 December 2005

A university professor fools biometric fingerprint reader with fake fingers made of Play-Doh and gelatin

Researchers from Clarkson University in New York have managed to fool biometric systems by making fingerprint copies using Play-Doh. Testing a range of biometric technologies, the team created sixty fake fingers which were successfully authenticated by the combination of the fingerprint readers and their accompanying software in nine out of every ten attempts. “Digits from cadavers and fake fingers molded from plastic, or even something as simple as Play-Doh or gelatin, can potentially be misread as authentic,” said Stephanie Schuckers, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clarkson University. The research also highlighted ways to defend against such fraud. The team developed a technique for distinguishing live digits by detecting changing moisture patterns, successfully reducing the false detection rate to less than 10 percent.

The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and DHS.

-read more in this ScienceDaily report; and see the Play-Doh Web site

Fake fingers fool biometric security systems in nine out of ten times

Professor Schuckers demonstrating the Play-Doh finger

MORE: Since 1999 the FBI Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System has grown into a searchable database consisting of the fingerprints of approximately forty-nine million people. The people in this database have been arrested in the United States for a felony or serious misdemeanor, or are suspected terrorists. The database processes approximately 50,000 fingerprint searches per day, and has become a mainstay of federal, state, and local law enforcement. Report